Edgar Allan Poe And French Symbolism

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most controversial writers in America. His literary fame has experienced ups and downs in his lifetime and many years after his death. But now his position in the world literature is secure. He is no less a famous writer than Faulkner and Hemingway. Nowadays, the research on Poe is very popular. He has been worldly recognized as the precursor of modernistic writings, originator of short stories, forerunner of psychoanalytic criticism and father of modern detective stories. All the modernistic schools are greatly influenced by him while his influence on French Symbolism is most profound. So, this thesis tries to expatriate Poe's influence on French Symbolism from four aspects: pure poetry, rebellion against tradition, musicality in poetry and the importance of imagination.To start with, the thesis gives a brief introduction to Symbolism. Next, it discusses Poe's profound influence on French Symbolism from four aspects. First, his idea of "poem for poem's sake," i.e. "pure poetry" has become a very important poetic proposition for the French symbolists. And his advocation of combining beauty with melancholy and sadness has become a poetic principle for the French symbolists as well. After that, the thesis sets out to expound Poe's emphasis on musicality in poetry and its influence on French Symbolism. Poe attaches great importance to music. What he sought in music is not only the rhythmical effect but also the suggestiveness which is wanted in poetry. Poe's opinion and his practices of musicality in poetry have exerted so great an influence on French Symbolism that it becomes a general pursuit of the symbolists. And then, the thesis discusses Poe's stress on imagination and his influence on the formation of Baudelaire's "Correspondences." Poe argues that imagination is the most precious faculty of mankind. It alone can apprehend the intimate and secret relation of things, thecorrespondences and analogies. Baudelaire absorbs Poe's idea and further develops it into the theory of "correspondences," which is to become one of the most influential principles of Symbolism.Based on the above discussions, the thesis concludes by reaffirming that Poe has exerted strong influence on French Symbolism. Without Poe, the French Symbolist Movement might not have been what it was like. As a spiritual leader, it is true that Allan Poe has influenced and brought up French Symbolism. Yet, without the assiduous translation and great devotion of French symbolists, it is possible that Poe might fall into obscurity. So, to some degree, it is the symbolists who have made Poe the world-famous figure.